Run by British chef Jason Atherton, who won a Michelin star for his London restaurant Pollen Street Social, the aesthetic is Europe-meets-Middle-East, all designed mezze style for sharing. In addition to its musical performances, Maraya plays host to art shows, most recently Saudi Arabia’s first-ever exhibition of Andy Warhol, the legendary American artist who drew inspiration from pop culture and advertising.Īnother major draw is Maraya’s restaurant, Maraya Social, perched on the rooftop with uninterrupted views of the desert. While some visitors might be satisfied with simply taking photos of Maraya and all its glimmering angles, they would be remiss not to head inside the building as well. He tells CNN that he also fell hard for AlUla, to the point where his firm now has a permanent office there. Earlier this year, Le Monde reported that “starchitects” Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers were signing a deal to consult on building an outpost of Paris’ famed Centre Pompidou in AlUla, under the tentative name Perspective Galleries.īut Boje’s experience designing Maraya was about much more than a building. Visual art exhibitor DesertX has set up in AlUla twice, bringing artists from around the globe to create site-specific works.
Desert sands quickcopy series#
Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Imagesįrench art book publisher Assouline published a series of titles showcasing Saudi archaeology and architecture. Desert Sands Pottery (1946-1962) was founded by Arthur Evans in Boulder City, NV. The concert hall is the world's largest mirrored building. In total, there are 9,740 panels cladding the building. Giò Forma Studio worked with US-based company Guardian Glass to create Guardian UltraMirror, a custom cladding product that was made to take Saudi Arabia’s warm, sunny climate into account. The first solution was a new kind of glass – made with copper. Putting large amounts of glass in the middle of a scorching desert might seem like a recipe for blinding vision.īoje and his team set out to find materials that would enhance the view of the landscape without exacerbating the sunny, hot conditions. The result, which took six months from concept to delivery and a mere 76 days of construction, was unveiled in 2019. He continues: “We had the fortune of visiting the site and were profoundly touched by the natural and cultural landscape, so when we submitted our design, the first thing we wrote was ‘Nothing visible should be built here, so if we really have to, it should be a silent mirror cube.’” “We truly believe that if a building cannot compete with the landscape, it should enhance it,” Florian Boje, Maraya’s architect, tells CNN about his initial pitch.
Set against the dramatic desert landscape in AlUla, just 14 miles from the epic architectural site at Hegra, Maraya was a joint collaboration between Italian design firm Giò Forma Studio and Black Engineering. This place was inhabited for centuries – but has only recently had touristsīut it’s also a work of art in its own right.
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